Seeing more than the moment

There are just days when it seems that the light at the end of the tunnel is really a train -- days when there is more chaos than calm.

In Mark 2 we read the story of a four men who carried to Jesus both a great expectation in their hearts and their paralyzed friend on a mat. Birthed from what they had heard, maybe from what they had seen that if there was anyone in the world who could do anything about their friend it was Jesus. They carry him to a house finding it overflowing with people. The chaos of the house could have diminished their hopes.

One of them though noticed the stairs that wrapped around the outside of the house. If they would ascend the staircase then they would be on the roof. Once up on the rooftop there was no entrance to the house below. So they made one.

Meanwhile below the roof the people are listening to every word then they notice the debris falling, the sun peaking through the once solid roof, and finally a mat with a man being lowered down. What is the meaning of this chaos? How dare they add a skylight without asking? Who's going to clean up this mess?

Jesus looks at the man who just experienced the ride of his life and says, "Son, your sins are forgiven". This spawns the question in the minds of the religious leaders who were there, "Why does he speak this way?" A silent question that Jesus answers aloud.

In the midst of the chaos, in the middle of the pageantry, they missed what was happening. But Jesus didn't. He had a bigger picture than the moment. There was more happening here than a new skylight where a roof had been and strong legs where defective ones once were.

Often we become overwhelmed by the moment we are in. As a person of Christian faith, it is during the times of chaos that faith in the one who "works all things for good" is stretched.

Chaos can bring about the greatest calm because it forces us to see that we are not the center of the universe. That Saturn does not have rings only for us to gaze upon. That there is more than the chaos, more than the moment. Jesus saw more than the moment. Christ conquered the chaos.

Rob Hurtgen is a husband, father, minister and writer. Read more from him at robhurtgen.wordpress.com.